The Wandering Disciple

Dale Earnhardt Jr's National Guard Car does a ride-along at the Richard Petty Driving Experience at Walt Disney World Speedway. Here you can learn to drive a NASCAR or just hop in the passenger seat and take a high speed ride-along with a professional driver. (Photo: September 29, 2012)

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: Tucked away in the fourth largest parking lot in the world lies a hidden gem of Walt Disney World. The Walt Disney World Speedway comes to life daily as race fans life out their dreams of getting behind the wheel of race car. Built in 1995, the speedway was built to host sanctioned races. The one mile asphalt tri-oval was designed by IMS and was dedicated in late 1995. It didn't take long for the speedway to host their first event as they held the Indy 200 at Walt Disney World in January 1996. They would continue to host the Indy Racing League through 2000. In 1997, the speedway added a second event as they added the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 1997 and 1998. Unfortunately sanction events would not last long. Scheduling conflicts, parking and crowd control issues and big accidents caused sanction racing to come to an end at the conclusion of the 2000 season. With the loss of sanction events, the future of the speedway was uncertain unt...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: The sounds of children having fun fills the air in the Storybook Circus, the newest addition to the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World. Here the circus is always in town, providing fun and excitement for the entire family. Storybook Circus opened in March 2012 as the first phase of the Fantasyland expansion project. It takes the place of Mickey’s Toontown Fair that was closed in 2011. The newly opened land features a redesigned family favorite, Dumbo the Flying Elephant. The popular ride had a second set of ride vehicles added to help ease the congestion. Another Toontown ride resurfaced in the new Storybook Circus as the Barnstormer was re-themed to a circus theme. Hop aboard for a wild ride with the great Goofini. A new addition to the park is the Casey Jr Splash n Soak Station. This splash area is a hit to help the kids cool down from the Florida heat. Rounding out the ride attractions in the Storybook Circus is the Storybook Circus ...

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: After several failed attempts, we finally made it back to Disney World to renew our passes and visit the parks. This is our first trip back to Disney since my wife fell and injured herself at Hollywood Studios in January. We decided to go to the Magic Kingdom for the day. We originally planned on renewing our passes back during the January trip, but after having to depart early due to the fall, we did not get it done. But the staff of Disney worked with us on getting the renewal accomplished and honored our original passes. They reinstated our passes, gave us the renewal rate and transferred over our credit from the previous account. They truly showed that they are there to serve their guests. The day trip to Disney is a rarity for us. Because of the three hour one way drive, we typically make a weekend out of it. But finances and scheduling prevented that from happening at this time. So I had forgotten how inconvenient it is to go to the Magi...

A full moon illuminates a dark sky in Englewood. (Photo: September 27, 2012)

The calm waters of the Gulf of Mexico meet the shores of Stump Pass State Park. Located on the southern tip of Manasota Key, Stump Pass offers visitors miles of natural Florida beaches. (Photo: August 10, 2010)

A group of zebras gather together at Lowry Park Zoo. In the wild, zebras form this pattern as a defensive mechanism to make their predator think they are one large animal. (Photo: July 18, 2010)